After enjoying a successful 2017 Expansion Draft before its inaugural season, LAFC will now find out what it's like to be on the other side.
On Sunday, the Club released its list of protected players for the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft.
LAFC's Protected Players List:
Tyler Miller
Walker Zimmerman
Eduard Atuesta
Mark-Anthony Kaye
Lee Nguyen
André Horta
Latif Blessing
Diego Rossi
Carlos Vela
Christian Ramirez
Adama Diomande
Additionally, João Moutinho (Generation adidas) and Shaft Brewer Jr. (Homegrown) are automatically protected.
Here's a quick refresher on how the Expansion Draft works. Before joining MLS for the upcoming season, FC Cincinnati will have the opportunity to select five players from the 18 MLS teams participating in this year's Expansion Draft - teams that had a player selected in the 2017 draft are exempt. The Expansion Draft will begin at 11 am PT on Dec. 11. FC Cincinnati is only allowed to select one player from a team's unprotected list. Once a team has a player selected, they're exempt from the remaining rounds.
The LAFC players under contract for next season that are eligible for selection: Steven Beitashour, Tristan Blackmon, and Josh Pérez. Again, only a maximum of one player can be selected from LAFC's roster. Players that are out of contract at the end of December are also available for selection but Cincinnati would then need to agree to a contract with them ahead of the 2019 season.
Following the 2018 Expansion Draft, there are three additional dates this week in which MLS teams could see adjustments to their rosters:
Dec. 11 at 12 pm PT - Free Agency Period Opens
Dec. 12 at 1 pm PT - Waiver Draft
Dec. 14 at 12 pm PT Re-Entry Draft Stage One
